


gold and young

by brightsmoon



Series: dear, home. [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon, BARELY BUT IF YOU LOOK REALLY CLOSE I GUESS, Diplomacy, F/F, Implied Opeli/Fareeda (The Dragon Prince), Implied Sexual Content, Light-Hearted, Married Couple, Mild Language, Post-Canon, Post-War, raydiaweek2019, short haired claudia and long haired rayla is my religion don't @ me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-23 10:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20006818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightsmoon/pseuds/brightsmoon
Summary: It's been 142 moonrises but Rayla smells exactly the same and holds her as one does a precious thing.RaydiaWeek2019 - Day 2; Domesticity / Post-Canon





	gold and young

**Author's Note:**

> day two!! this one is so good uwu i struggled with a title but it doesn't matter i got to write married raydia fluff so i'm CONTENT ! enjoy the food :)
> 
> title ; [hold on](https://genius.com/Ames-hold-on-lyrics) by ames, my new favorite artist

Claudia bounces on the heels of her feet, fingers turning the ring around her fourth around and around in tense, excited movements. Next to her, Ezran chuckles.

"Nervous?"

She shoots him a smile. "Of course not - it's just that I haven't seen her in 142 moonrises."

"I hadn't realized it had been that long," Ezran says thoughtfully, scratching at the thin layer of scruff that covers his chin and above his upper lip. In the sunlight, the brass towers on his forehead gleam and glow and she thinks dimly on how he's grown. "Hm."

It's been a decade since the end of the War - since that first messenger bird arrived at the castle, declaring a truce. The Dragon Prince had been delivered home safely and Xadia was escorting Prince Callum and Rayla back to the border for peace talks. None of them had slept for what felt like a year after that night. Ezran, barely ten, had squared his shoulders and with Claudia on one side and General Amaya on the other, walked forward to greet the Dragon Queen, both monarchs illuminated by the lava of the border.

"Claudia?"

She blinks owlishly. "Yes?"

Ezran's lips are turned upwards slyly, as are General Amaya's - Claudia guesses the older woman had arrived while she stared out at the gates and represses the urge to stand on her tiptoes. The carriage won't get here any quicker with her twitching like this.

A watched pot never boils.

"Amaya asked if Rayla knew you cut your hair."

"No," Claudia says with a grin, reaching to tug lightly on a piece of her hair, hanging by her shoulders instead down her back and missing the signature purple at the ends. "She doesn't. _Surprise?"_

Both the King and his advisor-bodyguard chuckle. "Hell of a surprise," Ezran comments and Claudia's opening her mouth to agree when a blast of a horn cuts her off.

She immediately swivels her head towards the sound because she knows it. It's been 142 days since she saw her wife last, kissed her goodbye in the campaign across Xadia, celebrating a decade of peace. It's been 142 days since she last heard this blast.

The gates grind open and out of the corner of her eye, Claudia sees General Amaya brush away a piece of non-existent dirt from Ezran's shoulder and wipe at a smear of jelly in the crease of his mouth. She leans back, nods in a motion that marks her as satisfied, and Ezran smiles.

Glinting off her fourth finger, Claudia finds herself jealous that Amaya can see her wife whenever she chooses because they travel together whenever they move. In the past year, she's come to know Janai more than just from a distance and while she's warmed to the once-Lux Knight, she swallows back the bitter sting of want in her throat.

She's going to see her wife today.

Claudia clasps her hands in front of her white, black and red robes, traditional of the Master of Ceremonies, and scolds herself. It's just Rayla - it's just her lover. Her _wife_. Why is she so nervous?

Soren is first in the procession that comes through the gates.

Even all these years later the sight of her older brother on top of a horse, smiling, back straight and strong, threatens to bring tears to her eyes. There's two gray chunks of hair that frame Claudia's face that speak to her determination and willingness to do whatever was necessary to get him upright again.

She had given up the dead language that crumbled her limbs and tongue as soon as he recovered. Claudia had lit a fire, set the books ablaze, making sure the flames died down before climbing back into bed next to Rayla.

 _"I'm proud of you,"_ the elf had whispered, illuminated in the moonlight. Claudia had cupped her cheek, tears tracking down her face when Rayla pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

Where her circlet sat. Opeli had been eager to train her in her duties as Master of Ceremonies before leaving for Evenere.

She's missed Rayla.

After Commander Soren comes General Janai and Claudia sucks in a breath, hand wrapping around Ezran's without prior thought. She knows the carriage is behind Janai.

In the time it takes the carriage and full entourage to make the half-circle procession to a few feet from where they stand, Claudia knows she doesn't breathe. She's nervous but so, _so_ incandescently happy.

Rayla is coming home.

Someone opens the door to the carriage and bows low, saying something, but Claudia is already moving. "Rayla!"

Her flats slap against the cobblestones as she flies down the few stairs and into the waiting arms of her wife.

_"Claudia-!"_

Their bodies slam together and Claudia doesn't know whether it's her or Rayla that sobs. All she knows is her wife is tall and strong and solid in her arms, the same as Claudia remembers, down to the very smell.

She buries her face in Rayla's shoulder and inhales deeply - she's missed her wife's smell. Moonberries and the fat for shining her blades mixed with the oil for her leather armor. Clean, crisp air that reminds Claudia of the Moon Nexus.

Every scent reminding her of Rayla. Reminding her of home.

Rayla's heart beats fast and quick where Claudia's ear lays and they pull back, arms still grasping at the other. Claudia knows dimly she's making a scene but everyone here is used to it.

Their eyes roam the other's face. Despite being fully grown, Rayla's horns have twisted every-higher against her head and Claudia leans up to trace a finger down them.

Rayla's smile could rival the very sun. "You cut your hair!"

"I did," Claudia grins back. She's never felt safer than within her wife's arms, strong against her back. Even now they're barely inches from each other. "Do you like it?"

Her wife's eyes don't move from her own.

"I love it," Rayla murmurs and leans in but Claudia's already beaten her to that.

On her tiptoes, Claudia kisses back with all the pent-up fervor of someone who hasn't seen their wife in months yet with the softness of a woman in love. She's missed every aspect of Rayla in her time away - right down to her lips.

Claudia thinks she'll never get used to the feeling of kissing Rayla. Despite being so precariously balanced on them, her toes never cramp when she leans up and captures the elf's lips with her own.

Neither one knows who breaks it first but Claudia lowers herself and Rayla follows, resting their foreheads together. Their hands come down to clasp and they simply _be_ until a voice interrupts them.

"Hello to you too," Callum laughs and Claudia grins at him.

"I missed you too, y'know."

Callum eyes her mock-suspiciously until Claudia pulls back from Rayla's arms to embrace the boy. Her wife makes an amused huffing noise and Claudia buries her laugh in Callum's shoulder.

"I still can't believe you're taller than me," she mumbles into his shirt and his eyes light up when they pull back. She thinks they're always bright like this, now.

"I can't believe you're still this short," he teases back and yelps when she bats at his ears. "Ah! _Quarter!_ Rayla, call off your wife!"

"Absolutely not," Rayla declares as she walks a few steps to embrace Ezran and then Amaya, who looks thoroughly debauched. Claudia chuckles and Janai catches the motion, grinning knowingly.

It's inevitable as the moonrise they end back up in each other's arms. Rayla holds her hand underneath the table and Claudia leads her to their bed, the one she's grown so used to sleeping alone in. No longer.

They don't stop holding the other until the sun burns high late the next afternoon.


End file.
